1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a saddle-type vehicle having a seat for the rider to sit on, knee grip members to be sandwiched by the knees of the rider, an upper cowl covering a region forward of the knee grip members, an engine disposed below the knee grip members, a radiator disposed in front of the engine, and left and right radiator shrouds for guiding ram air to the radiator.
2. Description of Related Art
Vehicles that the passenger rides on astride the seat are called saddle-type vehicles. Some saddle-type vehicles have parts covered with a vehicle body cover referred to as a cowl. The cowl improves the appearance of the vehicle and is capable of controlling ram air. Various vehicles with such a cowl have been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-42755 (FIG. 7)).
As shown in FIG. 7 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-42755, a radiator unit (51) (a reference numeral in parentheses is that found in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-42755; hereinafter the same) is disposed behind a front wheel (25), and left and right middle cowls (78L, 78R) are disposed outwardly of the radiator unit (51). A radiator air inlet (112) is positioned between the left and right middle cowls (78L, 78R), and lower cowls (123L, 123R) are disposed inwardly of rear portions of the left and right middle cowls (78L, 78R).
Part of ram air that is introduced from the radiator air inlet (112) is discharged out of the middle cowls (78L, 78R) through openings (138L, 138R) defined between the middle cowls (78L, 78R) and the lower cowls (123L, 123R), and flow rearwardly of the vehicle. The rider on the saddle-type vehicle has legs placed behind the middle cowls (78L, 78R).
The air flow that is discharged from the openings (138L, 138R) may be mixed with air that has been warmed by the radiator unit (51). When the warmed air is discharged from the openings (138L, 138R), it should not be applied to the legs of the rider.
One solution is to extend the lower cowls (123L, 123R) outwardly in the widthwise directions of the vehicle. However, outwardly extended lower cowls (123L, 123R) are large in size and heavy.
There have been demands for a cowl structure which is small in size and light, and is effective to prevent air discharged from the radiator from being applied to the legs of the rider.